Issac Delgado lascia Cuba per gli Usa

[Claude]

Se ne parlava già da tempo, ma solo Venerdì è arrivata la conferma.

Il musicista, che si fece conoscere dal grande pubblico come cantante di NG La Banda (il gruppo del Tosco che diede il via al boom della Timba nei primi anni 90), si è stabilito con la famiglia a Tampa, Florida.

In questi giorni si trova a Miami negli studi di La Calle Records (Univision Music Group) intento a registrare il nuovo singolo, parte di un CD che verrà prodotto da Sergio George, noto per aver lavorato in passato per Tito Puente e soprattutto per aver lanciato Marc Anthony ai suoi esordi.

Altri artisti cubani lo precedettero in questa scelta ma non ottennero negli Usa la fortuna che avevano in patria (Carlos Manuel e Manolín El Médico de la Salsa): speriamo che a lui vada meglio!

Copio e incollo da un forum americano

Salsa Bandleader Delgado Defects To U.S.
January 26, 2007, 2:45 PM ET

Issac Delgado, one of Cuba's most popular salsa bandleaders, has defected to the United States to pursue an international career, a former associate said today (Jan. 26).

Delgado, 44, is the biggest name in Cuban music to leave the communist-run island nation in years. His 1999 recording of salsa queen Celia Cruz's song "La Vida es un Carnaval" was a major hit in Cuba.

The singer moved with his family to Tampa, Fla., late last year, his former representative in Havana, Raul Escalona, said. His 11-member band, Issac Delgado y su Orquesta, which stayed in Cuba, has changed its name and has a new singer, Escalona said.

The son of a tailor and a dancer, Delgado started out in the band of Latin jazz piano virtuoso Gonzalo Rubalcaba in 1980. He has frequently toured outside Cuba with his own group since 1991 and is popular in Mexico.

Delgado was one of the few musicians living in Cuba who managed to cross political barriers and perform in Miami, where the exile community has long blacklisted artists who had not defected from Cuba under President Fidel Castro's government.

In Cuba, Delgado lived comfortably in the leafy Miramar residential district and drove a Mercedes-Benz, a rare privilege for Cubans, neighbors said.

His father-in-law, Miguel Valdes, a former coach of Cuba's national baseball team, has lived in Tampa since defecting to the United States with White Sox pitcher Jose Contreras in 2002. Delgado is the most prominent musician to defect since salsa singer Manolin, "The Doctor of Salsa," left in 2001.

Other high-profile departures include saxophone player Paquito D'Rivera and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval of the Latin jazz group Irakere, who defected in 1981 and 1990, respectively.

Cuba has long suffered a flight of talented artists and top athletes seeking fame and fortune in the United States, Havana's ideological foe since Castro's 1959 revolution.

COPYRIGHT: (c) Reuters 2006.



Salsa star leaves Cuba, makes Tampa new home
SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published January 26, 2007

Cuban salsa star Issac Delgado, one of the island’s biggest musicians, has left his homeland and resettled in Tampa in one of the most notable music industry defections in the last decade.

Music experts and people who know Delgado speculated that he chose this moment to abandon his life of intense popularity and relative comfort in Cuba given the country’s uncertain future following the illness of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Cubans don’t know which way the political and economic system will turn nor how changes, if any, might affect U.S. laws that currently give Cuban refugees almost instant asylum.

Rumors had swirled for weeks in music circles and on the Internet about the location of the 44-year-old dance band sensation who has toured the world. He stopped in Tampa in 2002.

But Delgado managed to keep his plans under wraps until this week, when publicists announced he had signed with William Morris Agency for global representation and moved to a house in Tampa with his wife and children.

Details of the defection of the two-time Latin Grammy nominee have not been released. But the office of publicist Adolfo Fernandez in Miami confirmed that Delgado had settled in Tampa and was at that moment in a recording studio in Miami working on a new single release. A new CD will be put out later this spring by La Calle Records, a division of the Univision Music Group.

Latin Grammy winner Sergio George will produce the album. He has produced past works for musicians such as Tito Puente and Marc Anthony

Delgado and his family could not be reached for comment Friday. His long-term success in the United States, however, is not guaranteed, a reflection of the gulf dividing the two country’s vastly different music industries and Americans’ lack of familiarity with Cuba’s aggressive brew of funk- and jazz-fueled salsa known as timba.

Other prominent timba musicians have left the island in the past decade – such as Carlos Manuel and the artist Manolin -- only to watch their careers stumble in the United States.

But experts think Delgado, former front man for NG La Banda, one of the top dance bands in Cuba and timba innovators, might have what it takes to make a smashing cross over.

“He’s an overall fantastic artist and a great businessman,’’ said Hugo Cancio, head of Fuego Entertainment in Miami and who first brought Delgado on tour to the United States in 1998.

He noted that Delgado lined up a well-known agent and record label right away and moved outside the political climate of Miami to Tampa, though Delgado’s wife reportedly has family here.

“Out of all of them, he could break the ice,’’ Cancio said.

Still, Delgado faces some challenges, says Robin Moore, author of Music & Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba, a 2006 book chronicling the development of prominent music styles and artists in the years after Castro came into power.

Moore notes that many popular musicians have become Cuba’s “new rich.” After the collapse of the Soviet Union and its massive subsidies and trade deals, Cuba turned to tourism to help keep its economy afloat.

Popular musicians who play gigs throughout Havana and tour Europe and Asia can now earn far more than doctors and scientists. The government gets a cut of their money, but some musicians can sign independent contracts and keep a larger portion of their income than in the past, Moore said. They also have nice apartments and own cars.

But Cuba’s timba scene is insular, its lyrics about everyday life on the island, its dance rhythms complex – qualities that don’t always resonate even with Hispanic American audiences, Moore said.

What’s more, Cuban musicians are used to a socialist system that has not prepared them to promote their music and image in a capitalist economy, Moore said.

Delgado already has succeeded in lining up big-name promoters. But he still has to create a new audience and financial success without sacrificing his passion for his music, Moore said.

“On the one hand, the artists recognize they may need to alter their style in order to accommodate a new country,” he said. “On the other hand, some of them go so commercial ...they alienate a lot of people that were interested in them for their music.’’

Delgado himself has long offered alternative, more mellow version of himself. It may help him avoid the plight of other timba musicians, who have become construction workers and cell phone salesmen in the United States, said Lara Greene, a doctoral candidate at Florida State University writing her dissertation on timba artists in Miami.

Delgado himself disputed the timba label in a 2002 interview with the St. Petersburg Times before his West Tampa concert.

“I don’t want to pigeonhole myself as a timba musician,’’ said Delgado, whose recordings also have tapped the poetic lyricism of Cuba’s trova movement, traditional Cuban son and modern salsa.

“I have a desire to transmit spirituality and good vibes through my music,’’ he said. “I think it’s the fundamental task of all genuine artists.’’

www.sptimes.com/2007/01/26/Tampabay/Salsa_star_leaves_Cub.shtml



Cuban salsa star now lives in U.S.
Issac Delgado appears to have a good chance to beat the curse of other island émigrés.
By Agustin Gurza
Times Staff Writer

January 26, 2007

World-renowned salsa singer Issac Delgado has emigrated from Cuba and plans to pursue his career from a new home in Florida, becoming the biggest name in Cuban music in more than a decade to make the politically charged move away from the communist enclave.

Unlike the highly publicized defections in recent years of two other prominent Cuban vocalists, Manolín and Carlos Manuel, Delgado made his move under a cloak of secrecy. Internet chat rooms have been abuzz about the star's whereabouts since late last year, but Delgado and his new U.S. business associates have kept mum until now.

This week, concert promoters were notified that the William Morris Agency had signed Delgado for worldwide representation. It was the first official confirmation that the rumors were true.

"Issac is probably the most significant singer of his generation," said Michel Vega, head of Latin music for William Morris, in an interview this week from his Miami office. "We're thrilled to be working with him and we think he's going to be a great addition to the American music landscape."

The critically acclaimed singer was not immediately available for interviews. But Vega confirmed that the artist has settled into a new home in Tampa, Fla., along with his wife and children. Details of his entry into the country were not disclosed.

Delgado is already recording a new album, in collaboration with award-winning salsa producer Sergio George, a key figure in the early success of New York salsa star Marc Anthony. The record is due in the spring, to be followed by a world tour this summer. Ten songs have been recorded so far, some featuring collaborations with major Latin artists, according to Adolfo Fernandez, spokesman for La Calle Records, a division of the Univision Music Group, which is expected to release the CD.

Despite the well-organized business plan, Delgado's move is risky, as the careers of some of his fellow Cuban singers collapsed once they set foot in the U.S.

"Carlos Manuel is just a complete disaster," said Hugo Cancio, a Miami businessman who was instrumental in bringing the young singing sensation to the U.S. "A great artist, tremendous talent, but he's nowhere to be seen. He's been here four years, and what has he done?"

Cuban artists who were superstars on the island have found scant interest for their style of complex and progressive salsa in the U.S., where tastes run more traditional. The handsome and charismatic Delgado, with his jazzy but smooth singing style, is probably the most marketable.

"He has a better chance than the other guys, but it still seems like a very questionable move," said Kevin Moore, an expert in contemporary Cuban music who writes for the U.S.-based website Timba.com. "He always worked the best-paying gigs in Havana and lived in a beautiful palace. To leave all that behind for an unknown financial situation makes you wonder, 'Why would he want to do that?' "

One potential answer: The political timing is right.

Delgado, who maintained good relations with the Cuban cultural authorities, may be trying to get a step ahead of political changes expected when Fidel Castro dies. A political opening on the island may close the doors on Cubans seeking to come to the U.S. because they could lose special asylum status, speculated Cancio. People in a democratic Cuba could be forced to get in line for U.S. visas with the rest of the world.

Manolín, who was a national celebrity in Cuba, where he performed as El Medico de la Salsa, said that artists who defect are led to believe they'll be greeted with a red carpet, but after they arrive, the carpet gets pulled out from under them.

"Here in Miami, Cubans own the radio stations, run the record labels and control the television, but Cuban artists are the ones who get the least play," Manolín said in Spanish from Miami. "It's as if we come from a country that doesn't exist. So it's worse than starting over because there's a need here to deny what comes from there. We are taboo."

Manolín, who still performs in Miami though his career faltered after releasing a pop record on BMG that tanked, said he spoke to Delgado last year while his colleague was mulling his move. Manolín's advice?

"You are a success already," Manolín recalled telling his colleague. "You can come here and try to maintain what you've already achieved. But if you expect anything more, you're going to be frustrated."

Delgado was one of the first artists from Cuba to perform in the U.S., at Madison Square Garden in 1996. And he has released several albums on U.S.-based record labels, including qbadisc, RMM and AhiNama Music, based in Studio City.

Delgado was one of the most prominent stars to emerge in Cuba during Havana's dance music boom of the 1990s.

In 1987, Delgado toured the world as a singer with Cuba's Afro-Cuban cabaret from the Tropicana. He became a star a year later when he joined NG La Banda, the Havana group that sparked the new wave of dance music known as timba, a fusion of jazz, salsa and funk.

www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et-delgado26jan26,0,1271435.story?coll=cl-stage

Info da Timba.com

http://www.timba.com/artists/issacdelgado/index.asp

[LaChica]

Già... avevo letto...

[tommy salsero]

Mi auguro che gli vada bene,è la voceche preferisco di quelle cubane.
Speriamo che le multinazionali non lo distruggano.....

[dodicix]

Speriamo che le multinazionali non lo distruggano.....

...anche perchè fra i Gruppi di "Timba", la sua musica è già ora una delle meno "dure"... e se si lascia "ammorbidire" ancora un pochino dagli Statunitensi e dal loro mercato, ci diventerà il Marc Anthony di Miami!!!!
Nguè... sob....
:-(